Jack Kingston urged Guard 'take a pass' on Boston Marathon

A year ago, Rep. Jack Kingston was so concerned about the National Guard’s shriveling budget that he wanted it to “take a pass” on major events like “the Boston Marathon.”

The Georgia Republican pleaded with the guard’s leaders to skip participation at the annual race because state-based troops were stressed by the oncoming sequester budget cuts and the need to be in global hotspots like Afghanistan and Bosnia.

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But Kingston had a different take on Tuesday as more than 1,000 National Guard troops from Massachusetts and small contingents from New York, New Hampshire and Rhode Island went to work helping Boston and federal officials with their investigation into the bombs that exploded Monday at the marathon’s finish line.

In an interview with POLITICO, Kingston, said he still had fiscal concerns about using National Guard troops at the Boston Marathon. But the 11-term congressman, who is now weighing a bid for an open Georgia Senate seat, said he was actually a bit more flexible on the idea of skipping the event entirely, explaining that that’s a decision best left for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

“Any time you’re spending military resources, you want to ask the question of what is the reason you’re putting the resources there? And if the Massachusetts governor determines he needs to do that, then that makes sense,” Kingston said in an interview.

More than 460 Massachusetts National Guard troops were on duty Monday at the Boston Marathon before the explosions, helping local police keep the race route clear. On Tuesday, that number ballooned to 1,000 guardsmen to assist with security, bomb disposal, communications and staging buses and helicopters. A small number of troops from Rhode Island, New Hampshire and New York also are working in Boston, or will be soon, according to National Guard Bureau spokeswoman Rose Richeson.